Sandcastles in a Wheelbarrow

[Loadrunner]

Our family didn’t go the beach this year, instead my wife took the kids to Pipestem; one of our favorite places to vacation in West Virginia. I stayed home because I’m desperately trying to finish a major home remodeling project before the holiday season. It’s been a long process that has worn away at my wife’s patience and like most worthwhile endeavors it has cost more money and taken more time than was budgeted.



In 1999 my wife and I bought an older, 1000 square foot house in a very desirable neighborhood with the full intention of adding to it. The finished floor space was less than that of our old house but it had an unfinished basement that offered potential and although it didn’t have a garage there was room on the larger lot to add one. At first the work was going to begin five years after we moved in but that turned into eight. The project is well under way and ultimately the addition is going to cost more than we paid for the original house and the half-acre it sits on, and that’s with me and the kids doing all the inside work. That inside work includes plumbing, insulation, drywall, floors, cabinets for a buffet area, built-in shelving and cabinets for a drop off area in the foyer.

Preceding that work is the ongoing work to finish the basement. All the 50-year old copper plumbing is being replaced, the new laundry is finished and I’m in the process of installing a full bathroom. Once that’s done all I need to do is add finished walls and flooring to an office, TV room and craft area.

And preceding that work was construction of an 11’x21’, 1 ½ story “shed” to provide a home for the John Deere, chipper, lawn vac, tiller, bikes, sports equipment, etc. and a place for the kids to hang out. For some inexplicable reason I decided to build this shed, including the windows and doors, without using power tools and save for a cordless drill I did. Thankfully I had help from my brother-in-law, father-in-law, wife and both kids. It was a wonderful experience that I’ll never repeat, even though I became rather adept at using a drawknife (don’t bother looking for one of those at Sears of Home Depot).

While the above is realistically enough work to keep me busy for a couple years’ worth of weekends, I apparently feel I have spare time. So much spare time that I’ve decided to try my hand at casting my own concrete stair treads which mimic a much more expensive stone version I saw. I built a knock-down form into which I compact about 250 pounds of damp sand. Then I carve out the shape of the step, mix the concrete and coloring agent, pour and wait. In a couple days I knock the form apart, scoop away the sand and what’s left is a step, a 200 pound step. Once I repeat this process only 14 more times I’ll be done. That is, if they install themselves I’ll be done.

Between pours I store the damp sand in a large wheelbarrow. My son, who is almost as much of a kid as I am, discovered this miniature beach one day and started to make a sand castle. I love building sand castles and it looked like so much fun I had to join him. A couple hours later we had pounded, dug out and carved a fine looking castle in the middle of the wheel barrow; it was a sight to behold with bridges, a moat, windows and parapets, a courtyard, various out-buildings and a winding road to the main gate.

When we finished we just stood back and took it in for a moment, speculating on how well it could stand up to an attack and what it would be like to live in such a place. Like a couple of guys we discussed ways to improve what we had just completed and the possibility of adding flying buttresses among other things. After exhausting the topic there was but one thing left to do…we knocked it down with a barrage of 16 penny nails; our own little version of shock and awe.

In the face of all that I have to do, in spite of sometimes feeling like I’m emptying a swimming pool with a thimble, and regardless of the desire to get the kids into their new rooms before they graduate college, I considered the time well spent. My kids are growing up so incredibly fast; I already feel a sense of loss when we don’t do something…anything together each day, even little things. I recall a statistic from way back that stated fathers spend less than 5 minutes of quality time a day with their kids. I don’t know if I buy that but if it’s true that’s a shame; what an incredible blessing that’s being missed, and what a disservice to the child.

I forgot to mention that I’m also building a patio in the back yard and I have a lot of dirt and bricks to move. I thought about transferring the sand from the wheel barrow to 5 gallon buckets so I could use it but I reconsidered; it’s tough to build a sand castle in a bucket.

[onig]

Thats interesting.

onig